Banking Outside the Box

Lake City Bank recognizes the importance of creativity and timeliness when it comes to meeting each client’s needs.

7/7/2017

Jennifer Blomquist

Jeffrey Crane

“At Lake City Bank, we don’t have desk jobs,” says Cammy Treadway, senior vice president, commercial east region manager for Lake City Bank in downtown Fort Wayne. “We spend our days in customers’ homes, offices, stores and plants to take care of their banking needs.”

Treadway is a member of the Fort Wayne team that was established in 1999. What started out as one location off Dupont Road has now grown to five locations with branches at Maysville Road, Scott and Illinois roads, West Jefferson Boulevard and downtown in the Skyline Plaza on Harrison Street.

“Our expansion has been strategic and focused on organic growth,” says Eric Ottinger, executive vice president, commercial banking manager. “Our commitment to exceptional service and community involvement has contributed to our success overall.”

Lake City Bank was founded in 1872 and has 49 locations across northern and central Indiana. The bank offers full banking services at its Fort Wayne locations, including commercial banking, retail banking, wealth advisory, including trust services, investment management and brokerage, treasury management, merchant and cardholder services and retirement services.

“Our strength here in Fort Wayne stems directly from our team. We have technology and products that are as good as you’ll find anywhere,” Ottinger says. “But in addition, our officers live here in the market that they serve.”

“The bank’s focus on individualized service, delivered by officers who live in the community they serve, means that decisions are made locally. Officers focus on one client at a time, taking care of all of the company’s or individual’s needs, and finding new clients to continue to grow the bank,” Treadway says.

“A lot of things have changed about banking over the years, but it’s still that person-to-person contact that makes the difference. We spend time going out to our clients’ businesses, getting involved and seeing their projects. We learn a lot about our clients’ businesses and it’s very fulfilling. We take a lot of pride in really knowing our clients.”

Another strength of the Fort Wayne team at Lake City Bank, Ottinger points out, is that significant leadership is local. This knowledge base, leadership and decision making capability locally contributes to strong customer service.

“The leader of our Wealth Management team, our chief fiduciary officer, our chief investment officer and the head of our Corporate and Institutional Group, which includes Treasury Management, all live and work in this community,” Ottinger says. “The number one challenge for our clients is the time factor. We need to take banking to them. Technology helps with that, but having sufficient leadership and resources, and the ability to turn around decisions quickly is how we differentiate ourselves from the competition.”

Treadway credits the low turnover rate for lenders at Lake City Bank as an advantage for clients.

“If you look at our lenders, you’ll see that they’ve been here for a long time and they’re active locally. We can make decisions locally because we know the climate and we know the people involved. When it comes to our clients’ needs, we don’t have one square box that we try to make everyone fit into. We have to be creative and think outside of that box for the best solution for our clients.”